...turn that damned chime off.
Why can't I leave my keys in the ignition and the drivers door open at the same time??? Yeah, I know, blah blah blah, people forgetting their keys blah blah blah, but at least give me the option of turning it off without having to start pulling fuses.
NO KIDDING!! We needed a new car back in 2012 and we decided on a 2012 Ford Escape. Oh if I had it to do over, I would SOOOOO not buy that vehicle.. We went with Ford, since I wouldn't touch a GM car for all the tea in China.. Let me count the ways I hate it...The braindead beeper that beeps endlessly with the key in the ignition EVEN if I'm sitting there in the drivers seat... The way the radio shuts off after 10 min EVEN if the key is in the ignition and I'm sitting there listening to it.. You have to flick the key on and back off to get Ford to grant you another 10 min to listen to YOUR radio.. This hits me a lot as I hate going into stores with the wife, thus I sit in the car listening to the bazillion Sirus/XM channels.. Another BIG hate is the braindead Microsoft/Sync abortion that passes for a radio/entertainment center in this car.. I suppose I should have realised that when Microsoft is involved, its gonna be crap... witness Windows 8... Getting the bluetooth to connect up to my common-as-dirt android phone is a non-starter, nor the wife's equally common android phone.. Not to mention, the endless dropouts the satellite radio gets, mostly sitting at a stoplight.. I suspect there is *some* RF source from the traffic control system that is causing desense in the likely crappy satellite radio front-end... Once again, Microsoft was involved with it, and lemme tell you, the user interface leaves sooooo much to be desired... But then, UI design and Microsoft?? need I go any further??... Sorry about the rant...
Why not just have a decent aftermarket radio installed and be done with all those problems?
Assuming the manufacturer hasn't stuffed major functionality of the car inside the radio/nav system and you're willing to risk a hit on resale value by losing some of the standard features.
To counter this; I have a 2014 ford fusion, and love it.
Sync works flawlessly over bluetooth with my cheap as shit tracfone (flip phone!) The 10 minute timeout thing is your own fault, just put the car in 'accessory mode', voila! (half turn of the key)
Mine has remote start/RFID fob, so the ignition thing is a non-issue.
The one thing i truly don't like about it is the leaving the car running in park causes the horn to honk if i stray more than 5 feet from the car (IE, checking the mail.) With a keyless ent
We needed a new car back in 2012 and we decided on a 2012 Ford Escape.
Most of your complaints can be fixed with various tweaks listed in the manuals. For example, you don't have to listen to chimes because the key is in the switch. As for Sync, update the software (easy to do with a download to any USB stick) and you should be able to connect any Android at least for voice, but your phone has to support a later level of Bluetooth to support reading/sending texts using the car.
I can't help you on your satellite drop outs, as that's caused by brain-dead placement of the antenna by Ford. No, that thing sticking up at the back of your car is not the satellite antenna. The sat antenna is pretty much inside your glove compartment.
Yes sir. Waited for a friend to have an interview in my car when I was in highschool, listened to the radio for about 45 minutes. When he got back, went to turn the car on and, boop, no power... Had to get a jump from the guy my friend was interviewing with.
Pretty ignorant on my part but lesson learned. Could have used a 10 min shut off timer;)
Waited for a friend to have an interview in my car when I was in highschool, listened to the radio for about 45 minutes.
Wow. That's bizarre. Back in the 80s you could listen to a double-feature at the drive-in on your radio then easily start up your car and drive away. 4+ hours of the radio had little to no impact on the battery.
Unless you had a giant booming stereo system installed in that car, your battery should not have died after 45 minutes of the radio being on. You *should* have gone and had your battery / alternator checked, and replaced whichever was defective.:P
Unless you had a giant booming stereo system installed in that car, your battery should not have died after 45 minutes of the radio being on. You *should* have gone and had your battery / alternator checked, and replaced whichever was defective.:P
Indeed. A car battery is on the order of 50 Amp hours capacity, and I doubt most car sound systems would draw more than about 5 amps continuous, or that the average person could sit in the car with a sound system that was so loud that it was drawing 5 amps.
Too bad it wasn't a VW. They have engineered their BCMs to monitor the battery voltage and automagically switch the radio off (in accessories or key off/radio power button override mode) when it drops to a certain voltage, to save the battery from getting too flat and not being able to start the car. Depending on the volume level is how long you get out of it before it turns off. Awesome German engineering.
Shame about their DSGs, though...:P
You do know there's an upgrade for Sync right? It's just the Ford makes it nearly impossible to get said upgrade. And yeah, the fact the Microsoft has it's mitts all over Sync leaves me with the same feeling.
And what scares me more - the CAN buses have almost zero security. The reason behind the fear is that certain geniuses in the NHTSA think it'd be good to have the cars communicate with each other. And you just know the comms will be tied into the CAN bus. Think of what a nefarious actor could do in t
Introducing, the 1010, a one-bit processor.
0 NOP No Operation
1 JMP Jump (address specified by next 2 bits)
I just want to... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I just want to... (Score:2)
NO KIDDING!! We needed a new car back in 2012 and we decided on a 2012 Ford Escape. Oh if I had it to do over, I would SOOOOO not buy that vehicle.. We went with Ford, since I wouldn't touch a GM car for all the tea in China.. Let me count the ways I hate it...The braindead beeper that beeps endlessly with the key in the ignition EVEN if I'm sitting there in the drivers seat... The way the radio shuts off after 10 min EVEN if the key is in the ignition and I'm sitting there listening to it.. You have to flick the key on and back off to get Ford to grant you another 10 min to listen to YOUR radio.. This hits me a lot as I hate going into stores with the wife, thus I sit in the car listening to the bazillion Sirus/XM channels.. Another BIG hate is the braindead Microsoft/Sync abortion that passes for a radio/entertainment center in this car.. I suppose I should have realised that when Microsoft is involved, its gonna be crap... witness Windows 8... Getting the bluetooth to connect up to my common-as-dirt android phone is a non-starter, nor the wife's equally common android phone.. Not to mention, the endless dropouts the satellite radio gets, mostly sitting at a stoplight.. I suspect there is *some* RF source from the traffic control system that is causing desense in the likely crappy satellite radio front-end... Once again, Microsoft was involved with it, and lemme tell you, the user interface leaves sooooo much to be desired... But then, UI design and Microsoft?? need I go any further??... Sorry about the rant...
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Why not just have a decent aftermarket radio installed and be done with all those problems?
Assuming the manufacturer hasn't stuffed major functionality of the car inside the radio/nav system and you're willing to risk a hit on resale value by losing some of the standard features.
Re: (Score:2)
To counter this; I have a 2014 ford fusion, and love it.
Sync works flawlessly over bluetooth with my cheap as shit tracfone (flip phone!) The 10 minute timeout thing is your own fault, just put the car in 'accessory mode', voila! (half turn of the key)
Mine has remote start/RFID fob, so the ignition thing is a non-issue.
The one thing i truly don't like about it is the leaving the car running in park causes the horn to honk if i stray more than 5 feet from the car (IE, checking the mail.) With a keyless ent
Re:I just want to... (Score:4, Informative)
We needed a new car back in 2012 and we decided on a 2012 Ford Escape.
Most of your complaints can be fixed with various tweaks listed in the manuals. For example, you don't have to listen to chimes because the key is in the switch. As for Sync, update the software (easy to do with a download to any USB stick) and you should be able to connect any Android at least for voice, but your phone has to support a later level of Bluetooth to support reading/sending texts using the car.
I can't help you on your satellite drop outs, as that's caused by brain-dead placement of the antenna by Ford. No, that thing sticking up at the back of your car is not the satellite antenna. The sat antenna is pretty much inside your glove compartment.
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You do know about the 'accessory' key position, right?
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When you run the radio with the engine off, doesn't that drain the battery though?
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Yes sir. Waited for a friend to have an interview in my car when I was in highschool, listened to the radio for about 45 minutes. When he got back, went to turn the car on and, boop, no power... Had to get a jump from the guy my friend was interviewing with.
Pretty ignorant on my part but lesson learned. Could have used a 10 min shut off timer ;)
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Waited for a friend to have an interview in my car when I was in highschool, listened to the radio for about 45 minutes.
Wow. That's bizarre. Back in the 80s you could listen to a double-feature at the drive-in on your radio then easily start up your car and drive away. 4+ hours of the radio had little to no impact on the battery.
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Unless you had a giant booming stereo system installed in that car, your battery should not have died after 45 minutes of the radio being on. You *should* have gone and had your battery / alternator checked, and replaced whichever was defective. :P
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Unless you had a giant booming stereo system installed in that car, your battery should not have died after 45 minutes of the radio being on. You *should* have gone and had your battery / alternator checked, and replaced whichever was defective. :P
Indeed. A car battery is on the order of 50 Amp hours capacity, and I doubt most car sound systems would draw more than about 5 amps continuous, or that the average person could sit in the car with a sound system that was so loud that it was drawing 5 amps.
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And what scares me more - the CAN buses have almost zero security. The reason behind the fear is that certain geniuses in the NHTSA think it'd be good to have the cars communicate with each other. And you just know the comms will be tied into the CAN bus. Think of what a nefarious actor could do in t